Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Cbp^r-iqhf by EdwTrCB aimer >? (Continued from last week) CHAPTER XII ) The Thlnga From Corvet'e Pockets. "Miss Constance Hherrlll, Harbor Spring, Michigan." The address, In targe scrawling let-, tors, was written across the brown paper of the package which had been brought from the post office In the lit-! #]ft rfMOrt rillntfA nnlw ? ... w ??..?0V UUIJ a 1 c? lllUUirillB hefore. The paper covered a shoe box,' crushed and old, beating the name of "S. Klug, Dealer In Pine Shoes, Manitowoc, Wisconsin." The box, like the outside wrapping, was carefully tied with a string. Constance, knowing no one In Manltowoc and surprised at the nature of the package, glanced at the postmark on the brown paper which she had removed ; it too was stamped Manitowoc. She cut tike strings about the ^.box and took off the cover. A black and brown dotted silk cloth tilled the box; and, seeing It, Constance caught her breath. It was?at least it was very like?the muffler which Uncle llenny used to wear 111 winter. She started with trembling lingers to take it from the box; then, realizing from the weight of the package that the cloth was only a wrapping or, at least, that other tilings were in the box, she picked up box and wrapping and run up to her room. She locked the door and put the box upon the neu; now she lifted out the cloth. It was a wrapping, for the heavier tilings cume with It; and now, also, It revealed Itself plainly us the scarf?Uncle Benny's scurf! A paper fluttered out as she began to unroll it?a iiiiie cross-lined leaf evidently torn from a pocket memorandum hook. It had been folded and rolled up. She spread It out; writing wan upon It, the small irregular letters of Uncle Benny's hand. "Send to Alan Conrad," she read; there followed a Chicago address?tho number of Uncle Benny's house on AMor street, lieiow tliis was another line: "Better care of Constance Sherrlll (Miss)." There followed the ^herrllls' nthlress upon the Drive. And to this was another correction: "Not after June 12; then to Harbor Springs, Mich. Ask some one of that; be sure the date; after June 12." Constance, trembling, unrolled the scarf; now coins showed from a fold, next a poeketknife, mined and rusty, next a watch?a man's large gold watch with the case queerly pitted and worn completely through in places, and last a plain little hand of gold of the Rize for a woman's finger?a wedding ring. Constance, gasping and with fingers shaking so from excitement that she could scarcely hold these objects, picked them up and examined them? the ring first. It very evidently was, as phe had Immediately thought, a wedding ring once fitted for a finger only a trifle less slender than her own. One side 01 me goiu was very much worn, not with the sort of wear which a ring gets on a hand, hut by some different sort of abrasion. The other side of the hand wi?s roughened and pitted i>nt not so much worn ; the inside stilJ itore the traces of an Inscription. "As long as we bo . . . ail alive," Constance could road, and the date, "June 2, 1 HOI.** It was in January, lSbfl, Constance remembered, that Alan Conrntf had been brought to the people in Kunsas; he then was "about three years old." If this wedding ring was his mother's, the date would he about right; It was a date probably something more than a yeur before Alan was born. Constance put down the ring ami picked up the watch. It was like Uncle Benny's watch?or like one of his watches. He had several, slip knew, presented to him at various times?watches almost always were the testimonials given to seamen for acts of sucrlflce und bravery. The spring which operated the cover would not work, but Constance forced the cover open. There, Inside the cover as she had thought It would be. was engraved writing. Sand had seejied into the case; the inscription was obliterated in part. "For his courage and skill in seam . . . master of . . . which he >ri>iikiit to jiip rescue or tne passengers and crew of the atoamer Wlnne .. . .-J2 hn*o rounderlng . . . 1'olnt, Lak? . Krio. Nov 211 1800 tills ' donated by the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange." Uncle Benny's nntne, evidently, had beer, e'-raved upon the outside.. Tonstance could not particularly rememv.nr rescue nf the people of the Winnebago; 185)0 was yearta before she was born, and Uncle Befmy did not tell her that sort of thing about himself. Constance left the watch open and, shivering a little, she gently laid It down upon her bed. The poeketknlfe had no distinguishing mark of any sort. The coins were abraded and pitted disks?a silver dollar, a half dollar and three quarters, not so much nbraded, three nickels, and two pennies. Constance choked, and her eyes filled with tears. These things?plainly they were the things found In Uncle Benny's pockets ? corroborated only too fully what Wassaquara believed and what her father had been coming to believe?that Uncle Benny was dead. The muffler and the scrap of paper had not been In water or In sand. The paper was written In penI S.II . Ifr I. n ,1 ? I >.. , ?. ?.??>? ma c?rn iicni iiiDiHieiiuu or It would have blurred. There was nothlrv upon It to tell how long ago It had been written; hut It had been written certainly before June 12. "\fter June 12," it said. That day was August the eighteenth. It was seven months since Uncle Benny had gone away. After his | strange Interview with her that day and his going home, had Uncle Benny i gone out directly to his death? There j was nothing to show that he had not; the watch auu coins snu.it have la.tn | for many weeks, for months, in water and In sand to become eroded In this way. But, aside from this, there was nothing that could be Inferred regard' ltig ttie time or place of Uncle Benny's j death. That the package had been ' mailed from Manitowoc meant nothing ' ,l?ll>,lln 1.1 ?IVIIIIIIV. OUHIC UIIC VyUIIMUIIVJC U'UIU ? not know whom?had had the muffler i and the scrawled leaf of directions; i later, after lying In water and in sand, the tilings which were to he "sent" had come to that some one's hand. Most probably this some one had been i one who was going about on ships; j when his ship had touched at Manitowoc, he had executed his charge. Constance left the articles upon the hod and threw the window more widely open. She trembled and felt stirred and faint, as she leaned against the window, breathing deeply the warm : nlr, full of life and with the scent of the evergreen trees about the house. rru? -a A.??.A._ ? i nc im m>;i" ui nume iwemy minus stood among the olnes and hemlocks Intersperse?! with hardwood on "the Point," where were the great fine summer homes of the wealthier "resorters," This was Uncle Penny's country. Here, twenty-five years before, he had first met Henry, whose birthplace-?a I farm, deserted sow?was only a few miles back among the hills. Here, | before that, UncJe Benny had been a young man, active, vigorous, ambitious. He had loved this country for Itself and for Its traditions, its Indian legends and fantastic stories. Hnlf her own love for It?and, since her childhood, It had been to her a region of delight?was due to him and to the things he had told her about it. Distinct and definite memories of that cuiii|miii(Mi?iiip mine 10 ner. mil 111tle hoy, which had become now for the most part only a summer playground for such as she,, had been once a place where he and other men had struggled to grow rich swiftly; he hnd outlined for her the ruined lumber docks and pointed out to her the locations of the dismantled sawmills. It was he who had told her the names of the freighters passing far out, and the names of the lighthouses, and something nhout each. He had told her. too, about the Indians. She remembered one starry night when he had pointed out to her In the sky the Indian "\Vay of Ohosts," the Milky way, along which, by ancient Indian belief, the souls of Indians traveled up to heaven; and how, later, lying on the recessed seat beside the fireplace where she could touch the dogs upon the hearth, he had pointed out to her through the window the Indian "Way of Dojfs" among the constellations, by which the dogs too could make that Journey, It was he who had told her about Mlchabou and the animals; and he had been the first to tell her of the Drum. The disgrace, unhapplness, the threat of something worse, which must have made death a relief to Uncle Denny, she had seen passed on now to Alan. What more had come to Alan since she hnrl Inst lipfird of him? Word had reached her father through shipping circles In May and again In July which told of inquiries regarding Uncle Benny which made her and her father believe that Alan was searching for his father upon the lakes. Now these articles which had arrived made plain to her that he would never find Uncle Benny; he would learn, through other? or through themselves, that Uncle Benny was dead. Would he believe then that there was no longer any chance of learning what his father had done? Would he remain away because of lhat, not letting her see or hear from him again? She went back and picked up the wedding ring. The thought which had corae to her that thla waa Alan's moth which Constancy's own mother had been so ready to cast. Constance could not yet begin to place Uncle Benny In relation to that ring; hut she was beginning to be able to think of AJan and his mother. She held the little hand of gold very tenderly In her hand; she wns glad that, as the accusation against his mother had come through her people, she could tell him soot: ef inls. She could not send the ring to hint, not knowing where lie was; that was too much risk. Bat sh? eoald A*'-c him to come to her; this gavsp rlgnt. thoughtful for several oiin- . utes, the rlug clasped warmly In her I liund; then she want to her desk and | wrote: "Mr. John Welton, "Blue Rapids, Kansas. "Dear Mr. Welton: "It Is possible that Alan Conrad has mentioned me?or at least told you of my father?in connection with his stay In Chicago. After Alan left Chicago, my father wrote twice to his Blue Rapids address, but evidently he h/.d Instructed the postmaster there to forward his mall and had not made any change In those instructions, for the letters were returned to Alan's address and In that way came back te us. We did not like to press inquiries further than that, as of course he could have communicated with us If he had not felt that there was some reason for not doing so. Now, however. something of such supreme Importance to him has come to us that it Is necessary for us to get word to him nt once. If you can tell me any address at which he can be reached by telegraph or mall?or where a messenger can find him?It will oblige us very much and will be to his Interest." She hesitated, about to sign it; then, impulsively, she added: "I trust you know that we have Alan's Interest at heart and that you can safely tell us anything you mny ivnow us 10 wnere ne is or what tie may be .doing. We all liked him here bo very much. . . She signed her name. There were still two other letters to write. Only the handwriting of the address upon the package, the Manitowoc postmark and the shoe box furnished clues to the sender of the ring and the watch and the other things. Constance herself could not trace those clues, but Henry or her father could. She wrote to both of them, therefore, describing the articles which lind come and relating what she had done. The next noon she received a wire ?froni Henry that he was "coming up." It did not surprise her, as she had expected him the end of the week. Late that evening, she sat with her mother on the wide, screened veranda, The lights of some boat turning In between the points and moving swiftly caught her attention. As It entered the path of the moonlight. Its look was so like that of Henry's power yacht that she arose. It was his way, as soon as he had decided to leave business again and go to her, to arrive as soon as possible; tliht bad been his way recently, particularly. So the sight of the yacht stirred her warmly and she watched while It ran in close, stopped and Instantly dropped a dingey from the davits. She saw Henry In the stern of the little boat; it disappeared In the shadow of a pier . . . she heard, presently, the gravel of the wnJk crunch under his quick steps, and then she saw him In the moonlight among the trees. She went down on the path to meet him. "How quickly you came I" "You let yourself think you needed me, Connie!" "I did. . . ." He had caught her hand In his and he held it wldle he brought her to the porch and exchanged greetings with her mother. Then he led her on past and Into the house. | When she saw his face In the light, there were signs of strain In It. "You're tired, Ilenry!" He shook his henri. "Tt'? l>p?n ret. ten hot In Chicago; then I guess *I was mentally stoking all the way up here, Connie. Hut first, where are the things you wanted me to see?" She ran upstairs and brought them down to hlin. Her hands were shaking now as she gave them to him; she ( could not exactly understand why; but \ her tremor increased as she saw his big hands fumbling aa he unwrapped the muffler and shook out the things It Inclosed, lie took them up one by one and looked at them, as she had done. His fingers were steady now, but only by mastering of control, the effort for which amazed her. He had the watch In his hands. "The Inscription la inside the front,** alia aulsi She pried the cover open again and read, with him, the words engraved within. " 'As master of . . What ship was he master of then, Henry, and how did he rescue the Winnebago's people?" "He never talked to ine about things like that, Constance. This is all?" "Yea." Henry put the things back In the box. "Of course, this is the end of Benjamin Corvet." "Of course," Constance said. She was shaking again and, without willing It, she withdrew a little from Henry. He caught her hand again and drew her bnck toward him. Ills hand was quite steady. "You know why I came to you as quick as I could? You know why I? why my mind was behind every threat of the engines?" '"No." - I "You don't? Oh, you know; you must know n*?w |M "Yes, Henry," sho said. "I've been patient, Connie. Till 1 got your letter telling me this about Ben, I'd waited for your suke?for our sokes?though It seemed at times It was Impossible. You haven't known quite what's the matter between us these last months, little girl; hut I've known. We've been engaged; hut that's about all there's been to It. Don't think I make little of that; you 1/nah' tmrliof ? moon Vikti'uo Konn mlno* but?but you haven't let me realize It, you see. And I've been patient, for I knew the reason. It wm Ben poisoning your mind against me." "Ne! No, Henry I" "You've denied It; I've recognised that you've denied It, not only to see UM to your people, but to yourself, a, f course, knew, aa X know that X ass ,r illJ 1 - SRSEBaaaaBi give mm a chance to laf "t5~yutrwhat~ be had to sji*; I wanted you to hear It before mumng you \\' oily mine. But now there's no need to wait any longer, you and I. Ben's gone, never to come back. I was sr.ie of that by what you ffrote me, so this time when I sturted to you I brought with me? this." He felt In his pocket and brought out a ring of plain gold : he held it before her so that she could see within it her own Initials and Ids and a blank left for the date. Her gare^went from It for an instant to the box where he hud put bsVA the other ring?Alan's mother's. Feeling for her long ago gazing thus, as she must have, at that i lillg. held her for ? moment Wn? It I because of that .that Constance found herself cold now? "You mean you want me to marry you?at once, Henry?" He drew her to him powerfully; she felt him warm, almost rough with passions. Since that day when, in He Drew Her to Him Powerfully; She Felt Him Warm, Almost Rough With Passions. Alan Conrad's presence, he had grasped and kissed her. she had not let him "realize" their engagement, as he had put It. "Why hot?" he turned her face up to his now. "Your mother's here; your father will follow soon ; or, it' you will, we'll run away?Constance I You've kept me off so long! You don't believe there's anything against me. dear? Do you? Do you?" "No; no! Of course not!" "Then we're going to he married. . . . Uivrht awav we'll have it then up bore; now!" "No; not now, Henry. J^et up here!" "Not here? Why nut?" She could give no answer. lie held her nnd commanded her again; only when he frightened her. he ceased. "Why must It be at once, Ilenry? I don't understand!" "It's not must, dear," he denied. "It's Just that I want yen so!" When would it be. he demanded then; before spring, she promised ut last. But that was all he could ipake her say. And so he let her go. The next evening, In the moonlight, she drove him to Petoskey. He had messages to send and preferred to trust the telegraph oltlce In the lurger town. Alan was driving northward along the long, sandy peninsula which separates the blue waters of Ornnd Traverse from Luke Michigan; and, thinking of Constance, he knew that she was near. He not only had remembered that she would he north at Harbor Point this month; he had seen In one of the Petoskey papers that she and her mother were at the Kherrlll summer home. His business now was taking him nearer them than he had been at any time before; and. If he wished to weaken, he might convince himself that he might learn from her clrcurtstaneos which would uid hlui in his task. Hut he was not going to her for help; that was following In his father's footsteps. When lie knew everything, then?not till then?he could go to her; for then he would know exactly what was upon hint and what he should do. His visits to the people named on those sheets written by his father had been confusing at first; he had hail great dlfllculty In tracing some of them at all; and, afterward, he could uncover no certain connection either between tliem and Benjamin (Jorvet 01 between themselves. But recently, he gnaaBBDaaanBg 2 Indigestion g " Many persons, otherwise O B rigorous and healthy, are B gg bothered occasionally with Q[ p Indigestion. The effects of a p m disordered stomach on the g! 52 system are dangerous, and gg J prompt treatment of Indlges- H B tion Is Important "The only Q n medicine l have needed has m been something to aid dlges Qj tlon and clean the liver," B ? writes Mr. mrea ABDoy, a m ~ McKinney, Texas, farmer. "J U "My medicine Is k?8 Thedford's S BLACK-DRAUGHT; Q for Indigestion and stomach M trouble of uit kind. I have T* E3| never found anything that D H touches the spot, like Black- M Draught I take It in broken S I doses after meals. For a long H f| tlmo I tried plHs, which grip- Q mm ed and didn't give the good DW results. Black-Draught liver B medicine Is easy to take, easy I n to keep, Inexpensive^" m n Oet g package froth font 5 9 druggist today?Ask tor and ? H Insist npon Thedtotd'i the P D naif gannlha. .B B^ Osl Btodyy. B - 8jK< V V ? * ????wmmmmwmmmmmmmmmrnrnmm*mm Effective May 8, 192 both Casings and Tubes, is i i To the 1 f r _ r* OU i Usco fc r \ F*3^JHEN the "Us r *te new price r MMv^WjBjn this understo r M&M buyer? ff A price reduction m; f using all the U. S. advai f ing not only to get the r keep the quality up. r * * f Today $10.90 is not i f price it was last Novem r But the "Usco" Tire L uncommon tire value i f has beeiu r Because in carrying r the "U 8co" price reductii f in good faith, we learnec r something about raisf ing the quality, too. r r United States Tires / f an food Tires / \ X. /u ? / 1 \ / Unit< r / United! K / fVtV-*hrM r , IL?T^ EE. G. A. E< Where You Gri^s Br Can Buy Nisbet 8 Up nr>* ?3uci u .a. lires: 1 had been succeeding better In thie latter. He had seen?he reckoned them over again?fourteen of the twenty-one named originally on Benjamin Corvet's lists; that Is, he had seen either the Individual originally named, or the surviving relntive written in below the name crossed off. He had found that ' the crossing out of the name meant thn' the person was dead, except in tin ase of two who hnd left the country and whose whereabouts were as unknown to their present relatives as tney nan won to Henjamln corvet, and the case of one other, who was In an Insane asylum. He had found that no one of the persons whom he saw had known Benjamin Corvet personally; many of them did not know him at all, the IrnPur him nnlv n <z a nnniP But. when Alan proceeded, always there ivas ore connotation vrlfh eacli of the vfiauia! names; always one circumstance hound all together. When he had established that circumstance as Influencing the fortunes of the first two on his lists, he had said to himself, as the blood pricked queerly under the skin, that the fact might be a mere coincidence. When he established It also as affecting the fate of , the third and of the fourth and of \ the fiftft, such explanation no longer sufficed; and he found It In common to all fourteen, sometimes as the de- ! elding factor of their fate, sometimes | as only slightly affecting them, but i always it was there. ( In I tow many different ways, In what strange, diverse manifestations that ; single circumstance had spread to i these people whom Alan had Interviewed ! No two of them had bee% affected alike, he reckoned, as he went , over his notes of them. Now he was going to trace those consequences to another. To what sort of place would It bring him today and what would he find there? He knew only that It would he quite distinct from the rest. The driver turned nslde from the r<>ad across a cleared Held where ruts showed the passing of many previous vehicles; crossing this, they entered the woods. Little flres for cooking burned all about them, and nearer ".vere parked" an Immense number of tarin wagons nun nuggies, with horses,, unharnessed and munching grain. Alan's guide found a place among thesfc for his automobile, and they got out and went forward on foot. All about them, seated upon the moss or walking about, were Indians, family BTouns anion? which children nlaved. Alan saw nmong these looking on, ihe bright (lresseg and sport eonts of summer visitors wlio hnd come to watch. The figure of n girl among * 'hose caught his attention, and he started; then swiftly he told himself that It was only his thinking of Oon tnnee Sherrtll that made him believe this was she. But now she had seen him; she paled, then as quickly duslied, and leaving the group she hnd been with, came toward him. He hnd no choice now whether he would avoid her or not; and his happiness at seeing her held him stupid, watching her. Her eyes were very bright and with something more that | friendly greeting; there was happl- , ness in them too. His throat shut together as be recognised this, and hia hai^d cloeed warmly over the small. .No War Tax !2, the Excise Tax on United States Tir ibsoi bed by tbe makers and isnot addc UNITED STATES I Purchasers i ix3J4 >r *10.90 co" Tire announced of $10.90 it carried od contract with the ade in good faith? |flra| iced art of tire mak! price down, but to /JmkSEHB the uncommon / mm ed States Tires B States @ Rubber Company ip The Ot<lret and Ixtrneet Two hundred and Eau ihher Organization in Ihe World thirty-Jive Uranehcg dgeworth, Ruby S. G. os., Ruby S. C. W. M. Panke Wilson, Chesterfield S. C. J.O.Taylor U COUNTY TAX L State Ordinary County Roads Bridges Total Cheraw | Marburg | Orange Hill Pats Branch Pee Dee Stafford j Bethel Center Point Chesterfield Parker . Pine Grove Ruby hiloh Snow Hill Stafford XT t vaugnun Wamble Hill Black Creek Center Center Grove Cross Roads | Mt. Croghan Ruby | 11? * 1 YY UAIOrU . , Winzo | Zion .. Buffalo Dudley Five Forks Mungum Pageland Plains Zion Angelus Center Grove Clarks Jefferson Macedonia Plains Bay Springs Green Hill . Lcland Middendorf McBee Providence Sandy Run Union Bay Springs { Bear Creek Bethesdm Juniper Middendorf Patrick Pata Branch Branch Shiloh Stafford White Oak Cat Pond > Juniper Oualey * es for Passenger Gars, | (1 to the selling price. J RUBBER COMPANY of /I I y, Patrick S. C. iflt. Croghan S.C. J 1 I :' .EVY 1921 12 mills 6 mills * 6 mills 1 mill 28 mills co F to co F H C" o o o o O ? O 3- O rj? s. ? g ? E to M " " f1 3 o tO Do c ? i g e- ? s. 3 ? - s fr a C 3 O a 5 I I I I I 28 I 12 4 1% 46% 28 | 8 114 37% 28 5 1% 34% 28 8 1% 37% 28 3 4 1% 36% 28 8 2 1% 39% 28 8 6 4i 28 8 36 28 16 4% 48% 28 8 3 39 28 8 86 28 161 6 4% 53% 28 81 2 88 28 8] 6 42 OOl Ol I I I A** 28 2 6 86 28 8 . 6 42 28 8 6 6 48 28 8 6 4S 28 8 86 28 11 89 .|28 3 81 28 8 6 41 28 15 4 47 28 8 86 28 8 2 86 28 8 2 96 28 8 6 4( 28 8 6 41 28 8 11 28 12 ft 41 'O I "I C | SB | 28 8 2 8t 28 8 86 28 10 5 48 28 10 5 48 28 8 6 6 47 28 8 5 5 46 | 28 16 5 4 6 68 28 16 6 4 V4 6 66^" | 28 8 6 6 46 28 8 8 6 49 28 8 7 Vi 6 48ft 28 8 4 40 28 8 '86 28 8 86 28 8| 86 28 16: 7*4 61*4 28 8 8 44 28 8 7*4 48*4 28 8 7 5 48 28 8 6 6 47 .| 2 ' 8; 6 6 48 I 28 | 16| I 9 6 68 I 28 | 8j 3j 6 44 . | 28 | 8) 81 I 49 28 8 6: 6 4$ 28 8 10 6 62 28 8 10 6 62 28 8 5 6 4T I 28 |18*4| I 4*41 6 67